Biological Sciences -

Program Highlights

Two Bios Faculty Members Awarded 2019 Silver Circle Award For Teaching

“Since 1966, the Silver Circle Award has been presented to some of UIC’s best teachers. Winners, who are honored at their college commencements, receive $500 and their names join a long list of distinguished colleagues. But what makes the award especially meaningful is its selection committee: the graduating seniors” – UIC Today

Dr. Robert Paul Malchow

Associate Professor of Biological Sciences
Silver Circles: 3
Years at UIC: 32

What is your advice to graduating students?
“Use what you have learned at UIC and elsewhere to brighten people’s lives, in whatever career you have chosen. Try to specifically plan a career and a life that betters the lives of those around you while meeting your own goals and desires. Finally, keep in mind that random acts of kindness go far farther than you might think — spread them around often”

UIC Today | https://today.uic.edu/silver-circles-robert-paul-malchow

Alan Molumby

Clinical Associate Professor Biological Sciences and Director of James Woodworth Prairie
Silver Circles: 5
Years at UIC: 20

What does it mean to win this award from the graduating seniors?
“I am tremendously honored by this award because it is an unequivocal affirmation of what I am doing here. My hope is that, by my teaching, I inspire students to follow their intellectual passions and take that knowledge to whatever discipline follows their education here.”

UIC Today | https://today.uic.edu/silver-circles-alan-molumby

2018 Graduate Student Research Photo Art Competition Winners

158 photographs were entered into this year’s competition. A committee of faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, postdocs, and staff reviewed the randomly numbered entries and chose 15 winners, each of which awarded the photographer $300. This slideshow showcases a sampling of the winning shots.

Departmental Highlights

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Beltran, Luis

A Galapagos Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis ssp. urinator) takes flight over the rich, warm waters of the Galapagos Archipelago. Photo taken from the edge of Española Island on December 16th, 2015.
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White, Dawson

Bug on a leaf in Peru.
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Beltran, Luis

A female variegated squirrel (Sciurus variegatoides) suspended from a small bush enjoys a juicy, fruity snack. Photo taken at the Monteverde Institute, Costa Rica on May 18th, 2016.
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Beltran, Luis

Three Española Marine Iguanas (Amblyrhynchus cristatus ssp. venustissimus) huddle and bask together after foraging for algae off the coast of Española Island in the Galapagos. Photo taken on December 12th, 2015.
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Rowe, Yuliana

A common house-spider (Family Theridiidae, Class Arachnida) juggles her egg sac and a potential prey item. Taken in the photographer's garage in Northern Virginia. Spiders rock!
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Chancellor, Stephanie

This is one of the many octopuses that live in Jervis Bay, Australia. Here octopuses seem to behave a little differently. Octopuses previously have been thought to be solitary predators, but in Jervis Bay there are two sites where octopuses live closely, interacting with one another. Their interactions, however, are not very friendly and a lot of times end up in some pretty brutal fights.
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Widhelm, Todd

A thallus of Pseudocyphellaria glabra in the beech forest along Whakapapa Nature Walk, Tongariro National Park, North Island, New Zealand in November 2017.
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Beltran, Luis

A group of golden ants (Camponotus sericeiventris) traverses a world of leaf litter in search of resources for the colony. Photo taken in the Los Tuxtlas Biosphere Reserve on May 17th, 2017.
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Widhelm, Todd

Two stunted beech trees on Isla de Navarino, Chile. I saw these while hiking to our campsite during a collection trip in December 2017.

Departmental Highlights

28 tenure-track faculty, 9 non-tenure-track faculty, 1800 undergraduate students and 100 graduate students

Take a look at what we have accomplished

Pride Points

#1825 Students declared BioS majors for the Fall '18 semester. The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences showed a record enrollment gain of nearly 4% from last year.
73rd US News & World Report, UIC's Department of Biological Sciences graduate program moved up two places in the ranking to 73rd nationally.